Michael Salmon

NEW on Wonkhe: “Apprenticeship units” and the LLE wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...

Plaid smash Reform to win in Caerphilly These are the key takeaways from a massive night in Welsh politics

My latest newsletter with all the analysis from a historic Caerphilly byelection

willhaywardwales.substack.com/p/plaid-smas...

NEW on Wonkhe: Despite previous indications that movement was afoot, the post-16 education and skills white paper had nothing to say about institutional closure. Michael Salmon tries to work out what’s changed buff.ly/E8tkJve

Everything that is in the White Paper for HE, handily digested.

Or if you prefer audio: wonkhe.com/blogs/podcas...

Or, if you prefer in person: www.thefestivalofhe.com

An old colour picture postcard showing a small harbour; in the background a medieval university building. Gowned students walk along the harbour wall

Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of @uniofstandrews.bsky.social

This shows the Pier Walk - a ceremony which is part of every new academic year at St Andrews

If you like this image, please retweet it - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm

NEW on Wonkhe: Higher education reform is here – along with a comprehensive strategy for post-16 education and skills. Debbie McVitty and David Kernohan work through the details of the government's agenda for HE wonkhe.com/blogs/what-i...

NEW on Wonkhe: Jim Dickinson examines the explosive growth of franchised business courses in England’s higher education sector – and asks why the Department for Education continues to fund providers with such poor student outcomes buff.ly/aaRX1Fq

How higher education became a get rich quick scheme Jim Dickinson examines the explosive growth of franchised business courses in England’s higher education sector – and asks why the Department for Education continues to fund providers with such poor s...

Now we can see the outcome data, it’s very clear that regulating some HE provision by outcome data hasn’t worked. A sub-set of franchised HE has become a get rich quick scheme and not for the students. DfE/OfS need their new rules in place ASAP.
wonkhe.com/blogs/how-hi...

Why is regulation on disabled students so weak? As new insight from OfS reveals improving outcomes and worsening experience for disabled students, Jim Dickinson asks whether higher education regulation is fundamentally flawed in its design and focu...

Yesterday, the OfS published an Insight briefing into the experiences of disabled students in #UKHE. It tells us all the same issues that every report about disabled students tells us, year after year. What we need is enforcement, not another checklist of 'thinking points' wonkhe.com/blogs/why-is...

An old colour picture postcard: an aerial photograph of concrete and brick buildings in an urban campus

Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of @uniofsurrey.bsky.social

This is in Guildford; its ancestor, Battersea Polytechnic, was in London

If you like this image, please retweet it - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm

UK govt prepares for yet another massive shake-up in post-16 education, to be achieved, yet again, by inventing new hoops to jump through while making the sector pay for the building of the hoops out of its own pocket. Which is empty.

wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...

A TNE policy primer for anyone seeking new funding streams The government sees “huge opportunity” for universities to get stuck into transnational education. Michael Salmon unpicks the policy context The government sees “huge opportunity” for universities...

Last week on Wonkhe: The government sees “huge opportunity” for universities to get stuck into transnational education. Michael Salmon unpicks the policy context

NEW on Wonkhe: FE-HE collaboration needs to be more than pointing both sectors at the same diminishing funding pot bit.ly/3W0lak8

NEW on Wonkhe: The government sees “huge opportunity” for universities to get stuck into transnational education. Michael Salmon unpicks the policy context buff.ly/0hSkM7h

That's quite the typo!

An old colour picture postcard showing 1990s stone and gals buildings set in paved courtyards with young trees planted in borders. Printed at the foot of the card is "Stockton's New University"

Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of University College, Stockton, founded in 1992 as a joint venture between @durham.ac.uk and @teessideuni.bsky.social

Teesside withdrew in 1998, it is now the Queen's Campus Durham

If you like this image, please retweet it - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm

Divide and rule - a really effective way to split the opposition to the levy

"The new maintenance grants will be fully funded by a new International Student Levy, ensuring that revenue from international students is used to benefit working-class domestic students, and support growth and opportunity" ye gods

Paid for by international student levy though...

Higher education postcard: Jesus College, Cambridge This week’s card from Hugh Jones’ postbag takes us from medieval Thuringia to Cambridge This week’s card from Hugh Jones’ postbag takes us from medieval Thuringia to Cambridge

My #HigherEducationPostcard blog for @wonkhe.bsky.social this week goes to @jesuscollegecam.bsky.social

wonkhe.com/blogs/higher...

Higher education’s social licence Why does everyone in Australian HE go on about social licence – and is the UK next?

New Wonkhe newsletters don't come around too often – get in on the ground floor: wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...

An old colour picture postcard showing four views of Manchester, one of which is a tall red-brick building labelled Technical School

Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of the former University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, UMIST, which was hied off from the University of Manchester @manchester.ac.uk and then rejoined it

If you like this image, please retweet it - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm

An old colour picture postcard of a Georgian country house, yellow stone, ornaments, lawns and trees, with blue cloudy skies

Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of University College Buckland, which operated briefly in the 1960s and 1970s, offering courses leading to University of London degrees

If you like this image, please retweet it - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm

NEW on Wonkhe: Dey departs, but what of his bill? buff.ly/u6KfI3G

What Ofsted inspections reveal about university leadership and culture Brian Culleton spoke to staff across different universities about their experiences when Ofsted comes to call. The picture he found was one of teams lacking support from the wider institution Brian Culleton...

Last week on Wonkhe: Brian Culleton spoke to staff across different universities about their experiences when Ofsted comes to call. The picture he found was one of teams lacking support from the wider institution

NEETs top McFadden's DWP skills agenda McFadden will seek to use his new powers over skills policy to curb 'wasted potential' from youth unemployment and cut the government’s growing benefits bill

Even though we know very little about the big skills shift to DWP, there was a fair bit to pack into this week's coverage: what's moving over? what's the secretary of state's vision? What's at stake? And what exactly are the risks and opportunities here?

feweek.co.uk/neets-top-mc...

NEW on Wonkhe: There's something for everyone in the latest rethink of the Teaching Excellence Framework, but - as David Kernohan suggests - bringing disparate approaches together can highlight fundamental weaknesses buff.ly/4Zb2KLO

NEW on Wonkhe: Brian Culleton spoke to staff across different universities about their experiences when Ofsted comes to call. The picture he found was one of teams lacking support from the wider institution buff.ly/CYXGEeJ

Development and use of occupational standards

NEW: L&W report calls for overhaul of ‘unwieldy’ occupational standards to keep pace with the UK’s Industrial Strategy.

This research, commissioned by Pearson, explored whether the current development and use of occupational standards are keeping pace with the changing needs of the economy.

The first multi-university group arrives The University of Greenwich and the University of Kent are moving together into a single governance structure. Mark Leach and David Kernohan report on the sector's first "super university"

wonkhe.com/blogs/the-fi...

Greenwich and Kent come together under one vice chancellor and governance structure.

Massive news.